OAKLAND — Councilwoman Desley Brooks has never shied away from conflict, but for the first time in her 13-year political career she is being accused of a physical assault — by the 72-year-old former chairwoman of the Black Panther Party.

In an accusation that has stunned local leaders, Elaine Brown, who led the black liberation group from 1974 to 1977, filed a police report this week claiming that Brooks shoved her to the ground during a dispute inside a popular barbecue restaurant, according to people familiar with the report.

Brown also filed a claim for damages from the city — a precursor to a lawsuit — in which she wrote that “City Councilmember Desley Brooks assaulted me in a dispute arising from city business.”

The incident, she wrote, occurred at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at Everett & Jones Barbeque, a restaurant near Jack London Square that is popular with city leaders.

In an email, Brooks, 54, declined to discuss the claim, stating that “at this point the best thing we can do is let the police complete their investigation.”

The accusation is particularly stunning because both Brooks and Brown, although noted firebrands, are generally on the same page politically — both presenting themselves as fighters for the city’s shrinking African American population.

Brooks recently spearheaded the creation of a city department dedicated to rooting out institutional racism in Oakland government. Brown, meanwhile, returned to prominence last year, taking a job with Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson to help transform a vacant West Oakland lot near the BART tracks into an urban farm and high-rise housing development employing former inmates.

Carson, who is also Brooks’ former boss, did not return calls for comment.

The West Oakland project appears to have been the genesis of the dispute. According to people familiar with police report, Brown claimed that she was inside the restaurant with a companion when Brooks entered and interrupted her conversation. Brown claimed she then walked to the back and was followed by Brooks, who gave her a shove, sending Brown falling backward onto the floor, sources said.

Brown, who did not respond to interview requests, wrote in her claim against the city that she suffered physical and emotional harm, and is seeking more than $10,000 in damages. Everett and Jones owner Dorothy King refused to comment.

Black activists who respect both women were left trying to make sense of their the alleged confrontation. Olis Simmons, who runs one of Oakland’s largest youth programs, said the heightened struggle for black equality has taken an emotional toll on people dedicated to achieving it.

“I have a lot of respect for both of them,” she said. “I think it signals not any failure in leadership but the magnitude of the crisis”

Controversy is nothing new for Brooks who has feuded with her share of council colleagues, city officials and reporters since first being elected in 2002. She sparred with the Public Ethics Commission over her campaign finance reports, unsuccessfully sued San Francisco Chronicle reporter Chip Johnson for libel, and most recently fought off an attempted censure vote from her colleagues over her role in building and operating a city youth center.

Brown’s primary involvement in Oakland politics peaked in the 1970s. She took over the Black Panther Party after Huey Newton fled to Cuba; twice ran for City Council and managed Lionel Wilson’s successful 1977 campaign to become Oakland’s first black mayor.

It remains to be seen whether she will file a lawsuit over the incident, but beating the city in court could be an uphill battle, said UC Hastings College of the Law Professor David Levine. “If it was an entirely private event, then the chances of recovery from the city would be extremely unlikely,” he said.